In spite of the many popups and the comprehensive Privacy & Security section, brand new research from an independent source has shown that data from iPhone users is still being shared with Apple.
App Following Transparency is a new privacy feature that was introduced with iOS 14.5. It allows users the option to block third-party applications from tracking them with identifying information, which is part of an attempt to better protect the user’s personal information.
However, two app developers working for the software business Mysk have discovered that, despite what seems to be an effort on Apple’s part to promote openness and privacy, many of the company’s own applications continue to gather this kind of data.
Mysk moved to Twitter (opens in a new tab) to bring attention to what it called a “privacy problem,” and it did so by posting images and videos of the data that was captured during a 10-minute session of browsing the App Store on a smartphone running iOS 14.6.1.
Data collected included details on the device type, screen resolution, installed keyboards, network connection, and other IDs, which are typically used for digital fingerprinting. This is exactly what iOS 14.5 aimed to prevent with App Tracking Transparency by giving users more control over how their data is collected and used by apps.
According to Mysk, this is the case even when the user has disabled tailored advertisements, personalized suggestions, and exchange of user data and analytics.
After doing more investigation on behalf of Gizmodo, Mysk discovered that Apple was collecting data for other applications as well, such as Stocks, Books, Apple Music, Apple TV, and the iTunes Store; however, no analytics data was being provided for the Health and Wallet apps.
Mysk’s Twitter thread continues with the following: “It’s unknown whether Apple still gathers analytics data with iOS 16.” iOS 16 is the latest major version of Apple’s iPhone series, and it was introduced alongside the introduction of the iPhone 14 family of products.
Apple’s advertising networks get information about the advertisements you touch and see against a random identifier that is not related to your Apple ID, according to an excerpt from the website page titled “Advertising and Privacy” (opens in a new tab).
The company also makes the claim that it will use “local, on-device processing to select which ads to display, using information stored on your device, such as the apps you frequently open.” This raises the question of why the company has been found to be collecting certain types of data in the first place.
